1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle remote operation device able to direct a vehicle to execute operations in response to a remote operation request made by a user of the vehicle and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a vehicle remote operation device of optimized fail-safe functions and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 2004-102939 discloses a device that directs a vehicle to execute operations requested by a user of the vehicle.
With the device disclosed in the above reference, a user of a vehicle is able to close a window of the vehicle or turn off a hazard lamp of the vehicle by using a cellular phone.
In practical vehicle remote operations, a user of the vehicle, who requests to operate a vehicle from a remote place, does not precisely know the actual conditions of the vehicle. For this reason, usually, various fail-safe functions are provided.
However, in the device disclosed in the above reference, remote operations are performed without considering the positional relationship between the user who requests the remote operation and the vehicle to be operated at all. Due to this, even when the user is close to the vehicle, and is aware of the actual conditions of the vehicle very well, the same fail-safe operations as those for a remote location is performed.
That is, because of the undue fail-safe operations, the remote operation is not convenient, of poor response, and time consuming.